Irwin et al. (2003) pointed out the principles that quality PE teachers should incorporate into their pedagogical practice in order to take into account the increasing number of overweight and obese ... [more ▼]

Irwin et al. (2003) pointed out the principles that quality PE teachers should incorporate into their pedagogical practice in order to take into account the increasing number of overweight and obese students in their classes. Fighting against obesity is so complex that no simple solution can be proposed. It means that the development of specific tools providing PE teachers with new instructional strategies inspired from public health is needed (Prusak et al., 2011). Inclusion of overweight students into PE can be linked with a social ecological model (Li & Rukavina, 2012). Even if PE teachers are able to develop and implement specific instructional strategies, it seems that they need support from health experts (Cloes et al., 2013). Internet, continuing professional development activities, and educational info capsules were identified as the preferred supports to be used by the practitioners (Cloes et al., 2014). The aims of this study were to produce and validate three pedagogical capsules focusing on specific concerns of PE teachers as well as to analyze the procedure of validation. Using an extensive analysis of the literature, the researchers first identified theoretical and practical resources to be mobilized in the understanding and development of solutions for the selected problems: (1) Students’ lack of awareness about the risks of overweight and obesity; (2) Constraints associated with the motor/physical disabling; (3) Parents’ lack of awareness about PA impact on health. The capsules were then submitted to 11 experts (health specialists, health educators, psychologists, PE teachers) who had to analyze the documents. They acknowledged the content and form of the capsules. Minor changes were requested in order to finalize them. The proposed evaluation sheet was also validated but face-to-face assessment was recommended. Dissemination of the existing capsules as well as development of additional ones should be the next steps of this project. [less ▲]

Despite ‘antifat’ attitude of some PE teachers (Greenleaf & Weiller, 2005) and the PE public relations problem in regard to how obese students are treated (Irwin et al., 2003), it seems evident that this ... [more ▼]

Despite ‘antifat’ attitude of some PE teachers (Greenleaf & Weiller, 2005) and the PE public relations problem in regard to how obese students are treated (Irwin et al., 2003), it seems evident that this school subject represents a key element in the involvement of the education sector in the fight against the worldwide escalating global epidemic of obesity (Tappe & Burgeson, 2004). In fact, PE teachers consider that they lack of specific knowledge to implement instructional strategies dealing with overweight and obese students (Cloes & Ziant, 2009). Some authors proposed models to illustrate constraints that PE teachers encounter in their classes with obese students and their potential solutions (Cloes et al., 2013; Rukavina et al., 2010). On the other hand, data are missing when identifying those that are considered as their main concerns and the ways that they would prefer to receive some support regarding this specific topic. This study is focused on these two aspects. Five hundred thirteen PE teachers fulfilled an online questionnaire (Lickert scales) in which they had to determine (1) the perceived importance of 20 problems proposed by PE teachers and validated by 8 experts; (2) their relative interest toward the reception of support aiming to deal with those problems; (3) their preference for receiving information about the potential instructional strategies. Based on the answers, the top 3 problems are: (1) Students’ lack of awareness about the risks of overweight and obesity; (2) Constraints associated with the motor/physical disabling; (3) Parents’ lack of awareness about physical activity impact on health. Internet (3.49±.6/4), continuing professional development activities (3.29±.8/4), and educational info capsules (3.07±.8/4) were identified as the main resources that PE teachers would use preferentially. This study provides useful information for PE teachers’ educators who should develop now material to be shared with the practitioners. [less ▲]

Two specific teaching approaches respecting the socioconstructivist principles (observation cards and students verbal exchanges) have been implemented in three secondary PE school classes during short ... [more ▼]

Two specific teaching approaches respecting the socioconstructivist principles (observation cards and students verbal exchanges) have been implemented in three secondary PE school classes during short teaching volleyball units. The study examines the opinions of the teachers and students about their experience. Both kind of actors were positively surprised by these original teaching approaches. PE teachers had some difficulties to share the leadership with their students but were impressed by the behavior of their students. The latter underlined that they appreciated to have the opportunity to learn by themselves. More resources should be developed to help the PE teachers to adopt such teaching approaches. [less ▲]

This chapter presents a pedagogical case presenting a 15-year-old girl who met some episodes of drop in blood pressure in the morning when beginning school. Her physical education (PE) teacher has to find ... [more ▼]

This chapter presents a pedagogical case presenting a 15-year-old girl who met some episodes of drop in blood pressure in the morning when beginning school. Her physical education (PE) teacher has to find a way to deal with such situation. Three scientists from physiology, fitness training and psychology analyze the scenario and underline the knowledge that should be used by the PE teacher in order to implement appropriate lessons. Sport pedagogists propose then a concrete contribution based on this interdisciplinary analysis. Such paper is a fantastic adventure for scholars who are invited to exchange their representations, knowledge et ideas in order to develop strong approaches. The refective process is an example for preservice education but also for all practioneers and PE teacher educators. [less ▲]

School is considered as one of the main pilars of the promotion of physical activity. Beyond the physical education teachers - who are real corner stones of this multisectorial action, the classroom ... [more ▼]

School is considered as one of the main pilars of the promotion of physical activity. Beyond the physical education teachers - who are real corner stones of this multisectorial action, the classroom teachers must also be sensitized to that kind of action because they particularly influence children and can also contribute to give them healthy lifestyle. The presentation takes the representations as the common thread in order to illustrate the notions that the teachers should master and to draw their attention on their responsibilities. [less ▲]

Nowadays, physical education is more and more focused on the development of an active lifestyle among the students who are supposed to become physically educated citizen throughout life. The presentation ... [more ▼]

Nowadays, physical education is more and more focused on the development of an active lifestyle among the students who are supposed to become physically educated citizen throughout life. The presentation is divided in six parts: AIESEP Statement on Sport Pedagogy; From sport educator to PA promoter: The (r)evolution of PE teachers; What about ‘Quality Physical Education’?; How to be a PA promoter?; PETE for PA promoters; Conclusions. [less ▲]

Research has documented a positive association between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and well-being, performance and self-efficacy. The purpose of the current study was to examine potential associations ... [more ▼]

Research has documented a positive association between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and well-being, performance and self-efficacy. The purpose of the current study was to examine potential associations between EI and self-efficacy among physical education teachers. The Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue) and the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) were administered to a sample of 119 physical education teachers. The main results show a positive association between EI and self-efficacy, and more particularly that the sociability factor of EI predicted the TSES total score. Moreover, neither age nor teaching time experience was related to EI or self-efficacy scores. These results both confirm and extend previous findings on the association between EI and self-efficacy. Suggestions are provided for specific EI training for physical education teachers. [less ▲]

Globally, researchers regularly note the growing prevalence of weight excess and obesity among all population groups (Sassi, 2010). This trend is now considered a real epidemic. Weight gain and obesity ... [more ▼]

Globally, researchers regularly note the growing prevalence of weight excess and obesity among all population groups (Sassi, 2010). This trend is now considered a real epidemic. Weight gain and obesity are associated with several endogenous and exogenous factors among which inappropriate nutrition and sedentary lifestyle are clearly emphasized (Gahagan, 2004). Beyond the harmful consequences on individual health, the increasing proportion of overweight/obese individuals is already contributing to an increase in health care costs that will reach unmanageable proportions in few decades. Therefore, an increasing number of national and international bodies underline the need to implement effective programs designed to improve the citizen’s lifestyle. Over the last decade, the literature is replete with studies that demonstrate the positive effects of local and/or broader programs designed to address the issue of weight control and obesity prevention/treatment. Despite the encouraging data, it seems that the real impact on the society lacks consistency. It appears that multi-sectoral approaches are required. In such models, the School is identified as a determining component that should be implemented but cannot be considered as the magic remedy of a complex challenge like obesity (Fridlund Dunton et al., 2011; Lee et al., 2006). In fact, at school, each child is expected to acquire competences and knowledge that she/he will be able to use lifelong. Nevertheless, without the support of the other pillars of the society, any action undertaken at school would be a sword strike into water. Moreover, within the school, the fight against obesity needs the combined action of several partners in a multidimensional intervention. As a result of its links to the promotion of physical activity and health, physical education (PE) is logically presented as a key element in the strategies to be implemented (Tappe & Burgeson, 2004). However, for PE teachers, the growing number of overweight/obese students seems to represent a real challenge. Indeed, these students require specialized attention that, in the same time, cannot result in a stigmatization of the students’ characteristics. It first appears that PE teachers experience some difficulties in clearly identifying those students who need real intervention. Moreover, PE teachers express real concern over what can be done without causing harm to the overweight/obese student, this situation being especially relevant with the adolescent student (Cloes & Ziant, 2009; Rukavina et al., 2010). The presentation will focus on the current state of the research on PE teachers’ potential actions with overweight/obese students. The aim is to illustrate the avenues that are currently being explored. The presentation will offer a review of the steps of a research program addressing student obesity in PE developed at the University of Liege over the past several years. [less ▲]

It would be interesting to determine if students’ attitude towards physical activity (PA) is linked to the students’ level of PA during school time as well as to verify if the school time contributes ... [more ▼]

It would be interesting to determine if students’ attitude towards physical activity (PA) is linked to the students’ level of PA during school time as well as to verify if the school time contributes significantly to the daily PA of the youth. A descriptive survey was carried out on 480 children from grade 6 (120 boys & 120 girls and grade 9 (120 boys & 120 girls randomly selected from 8 schools in Pune city (India). Their attitude towards PA and physical fitness were measured using SAPAPF (Pethkar, 2012). Pedometer determined number of steps accumulated through the school hours were measured for a week and averaged to find out the amount of PA during school-hours. Data analysis revealed that students in all four groups had positive attitude towards PA (175.20±19.32, 173.93±15.21, 173.98±17.94, 181.03±12.67) while the number of steps averaged from 3566.6 (±604.28), 4065.93 (±615.77), 2938.75 (±583.79) and 3145.95 (±588.65) for girls and boys in grade 6 and 9, respectively. A significant positive correlation between the attitude and the PA level has been found (Spearman rho correlation coefficients of .497, .623, .578, .705; p ≤0.05). However, the number of steps accumulated through the school hours was particularly far from the objectives recommended by public health bodies. Confirming findings from other contexts, comparison between school PA of girls and boys revealed that boys were more active than girls, younger students being more active than their older counterparts. The findings show that students who have a positive attitude towards PA find opportunities to be more active at school than those with a poor attitude. Moreover, school could play a more important role in providing to the students more opportunities to be physically active and to improve the attitude of some students towards PA. PE should become the corner stone of such mission. [less ▲]

Literature shows that the number of overweight/obese youth grows irreparably since several decades. Their increasing presence in PE classes implies that PE teachers need to adapt their lessons, which ... [more ▼]

Literature shows that the number of overweight/obese youth grows irreparably since several decades. Their increasing presence in PE classes implies that PE teachers need to adapt their lessons, which seems not to be an easy challenge. It appeared that they lack of knowledge about the specific topic of obesity while professionals working with the people affected by weight problems are not aware about the characteristics of the teaching context. This paper is a part of a bigger study aiming to provide lines of action to the PE teachers. Based on the recommendations suggested through a half day meeting gathering physical educators and specialists of obesity, six PE teachers – five females, one male, all volunteers – agreed to implement freely teaching strategies in order to deal with their overweight/obese students. During three months, they had to fulfill a diary. At the half of this period, they were interviewed in order to explain how they were coping. At the end of this period, they attended to a track report meeting in order to share their experiences with the specialists. All teachers underlined that writing in the diary was a hard task (lack of time, difficulty to recall all events or to identify interesting information). However, the analysis of the diaries, interviews, and last interdisciplinary meeting showed that PE teachers implemented six main categories of actions: ‘Adapted endurance activities’; ‘Guidance of the adolescents to out-of-school sports activities’; ‘Contact with physicians and medical certificates’; ‘Contact with the psycho-medico-social centers of the schools’; ‘Nutrition aspects’; ‘Activities that enhance the student’. A large inter individual variability has been identified. Reported actions are divided in ‘little’ interactive decisions relying on opportunities, and projects that need a real involvement of the teacher. All actions were not effective but exchange between the subjects was hailed by each of them. [less ▲]

Regular physical activity is associated with a wide range of health benefits. As population age, promotion of physical activity should specifically target older adults, an expanding group involving ... [more ▼]

Regular physical activity is associated with a wide range of health benefits. As population age, promotion of physical activity should specifically target older adults, an expanding group involving potential higher health care costs in the near future. Innovative interventions focusing on physical activity behaviors of senior adults exposed promising results, most recently through the use of the Internet. If seniors and Internet are generally considered as two opposite concepts, arguments in favour of bringing them together in a public health perspective have been identified by the recent literature. Older adults are the fastest growing group of Internet users and are more prone than younger to use it for health-related subjects. Web-based interventions are effective in many health promotion sectors, including physical activity. This is particularly true when interventions target the environmental determinants of each senior citizen and are specifically designed for this population. Those early research findings must clearly be extended, particularly regarding to the long term effects of Webbased physical activity interventions. Solutions that will reduce the high dropout rate recorded in the existing literature must also be considered as a priority in order to ensure the development of this forward-looking field of research. [less ▲]

Despite the numerous health benefits, population physical activity (PA) levels are low and decline with age. In Belgium, people older than 60 years will represent more than a third of the entire ... [more ▼]

Despite the numerous health benefits, population physical activity (PA) levels are low and decline with age. In Belgium, people older than 60 years will represent more than a third of the entire population in 2050, with some major implications in terms of public health cost. Faced with this issue, innovative interventions to promote PA in older adults are of major interest. The Internet holds potential for delivering effective PA interventions. Besides, older adults are the largest-growing group of Internet users. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to explore the opinion of older adults about Internet-based PA promotion. First, 75 older adults (73.75 ± 5.77 years) fulfilled a questionnaire about their PA stage of change, motivation about PA and opinion about several elements that could be included in an Internet-based PA website. Then, they were asked to participate in an unique session of “home exercising”. Finally, in a subsequent interview, they had to give their opinion about the inclusion of this kind of session in an Internet-based PA website. Only 48% of the participants met the official guidelines for PA. A regular access to the Internet was observed for 57.3% of the participants, with a significantly higher access for the younger ones (p = .014). Based on a 4-point Likert scale, the most popular topics for an Internet-based intervention were “PA social forum” (3.3/4), “PA local opportunities” (3.2/4), “PA local agenda” (3.1/4), “Benefits of PA” (3.1/4) and “PA programs” (3.1/4). According to the participants, the inclusion of “home exercising” in an internet-based PA website would be appreciated (7.85/10), adapted (8.78/10) and likely to be self-implemented at home (6.96/10). Findings suggest that an internet-based PA promotion may be acceptable for older people. Social and neighborhood environment elements appear to be essential in order to support the motivation for a regular PA practice. [less ▲]

The referees are responsible for the proper progress of sports competitions. However, it is clear that very few studies are devoted to them, particularly with regard to their training. The aim of this ... [more ▼]

The referees are responsible for the proper progress of sports competitions. However, it is clear that very few studies are devoted to them, particularly with regard to their training. The aim of this study was to analyze the Wallonian situation in five federations: basketball, football, handball, hockey and rugby. We conducted semi-structured interviews with three officials of their refereeing commission. After the analysis of the data, subjects gave a feedback on the synthesis of the interviews (Friedberg, 1994). The SONAL software (v.1.6.11; Alber, 2010) allowed us to process the data. According to our subjects, no federation is genuinely interested by referees, as they prefer to focus more on other aspects ("sport for all", "promotion of their sport", "notoriety of the national team" …). The referee courses are purely theoretical and concluded with an examination (15/15). Then, supervisors follow the referees on the field but the lack of human resources is a real problem (15/15). Only the basketball federation offers learning levels, allowing a gradual advancement. The career-long learning is based on supervisions but also on seminars. The field's experience is the most important factor (15/15) to improve (Pizerra and Laborde, 2011). We noticed also that the football federation implemented refereeing training centers while the basketball federation has established a school of refereeing. In addition, the rugby referee educators must have a certificate of the international refereeing commission while any special skills are requested in the other federations. Except in hockey, all courses are free. In the five federations, the structures are extremely different. An identical framework with different invariable levels, as in coach education (Theunissen, 2007), could facilitate the implementation of interdisciplinary training. [less ▲]